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Laura Dern

Actress Laura Dern poses for photographers at the premiere of the film "Inland Empire" in 2006. The Los Angeles native was born into the movie business in 1967, the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Dianne Ladd. She was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in 1991 for her performance in "Rambling Rose."

Credit: AP Photo

Laura Dern arrives for a screening of 2003's "In the Cut," also starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mark Ruffalo.

The 1982 Miss Golden Globe, Dern has received four Emmy and five Golden Globe nominations. She won Golden Globes for her work in the made-for-TV movies "Recount" and "Afterburn," and the HBO series "Enlightened."

Credit: AP Photo

"Smooth Talk" (1985), co-starring Treat Williams, was based on a short story by Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," about a 15-year-old girl's sexual awakening.

Credit: Spectrafilm

Laura Dern was 19 when she had her breakout role in "Blue Velvet," the first of three films she made for director David Lynch.

Credit: DEG

Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan in the mystery "Blue Velvet."

Credit: DEG

Dern re-upped with Lynch and co-star Nicolas Cage for "Wild at Heart."

Credit: DEG

Laura Dern in David Lynch's "Wild at Heart."

Credit: DEG

Laura Dern with director David Lynch on the set of "Inland Empire," their third collaboration.

Tracy Smith asked Dern what working with Lynch gave her. "He has been my mentor and my maestro. He's made me take risks and pushed me to the edge in ways, as an actor, that I think I never could have imagined."

"Do you understand David Lynch films?" Smith asked.

"Sometimes!" she replied.

Credit: 518 Media

Lukas Haas and Laura Dern in "Rambling Rose" (1991), A Depression-era story about a young woman in Georgia slipping between innocence and promiscuity.

Credit: New Line

Lukas Haas and Robert Duvall in "Rambling Rose" (1991).

Credit: New Line

Laura Dern and her mother, actress Diane Ladd, each earned Academy Award nominations for their performances in "Rambling Rose."

"And to this day, it brings so much joy to so many children. Then you become a mom and, like, one day they realize you're in a dinosaur movie, and that's kind of cool, too. Because they ain't seeing the David Lynch movies - just throwing that out there! - 'til probably they're 30. So at least I have a movie they can see."

Credit: Universal Pictures

Laura Dern in a moment of terror - one of many - in "Jurassic Park."

Credit: Universal Pictures

Clint Eastwood and Laura Dern in "A Perfect World," as a Texas Ranger and a criminologist pursuing a escaped convict.

Credit: Warner Brothers

In "October Sky" Jake Gyllenhaal played a student aspiring to build rockets, based on the true story of a coal miner's son who grew up to become a NASA engineer. Laura Dern played a supportive science teacher.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Director Alexander Payne with Laura Dern on the set of "Citizen Ruth" (1996). Dern plays a pregnant woman who finds herself in a tug-of-war between advocates on both sides of the abortion issue.

Credit: Miramax

Laura Dern is seen with director Robert Altman on the set of "Dr. T and the Women" (2000). Also in the cast: Liv Tyler.

Credit: Artisan Entertainment

Laura Dern appeared with Steve Martin, playing a Chicago dentist, in the black comedy-thriller "Novocaine" (2001).

Credit: Artisan Entertainment

Laura Dern and William H. Macy in the 2002 drama "Focus."

Credit: Paramount Classics

Dakota Fanning played the daughter of a developmentally-challenged single parent (Sean Penn), and Laura Dern the head of her foster home, in "I Am Sam" (2001).

Laura Dern starred in David Lynch's 2006 mystery "Inland Empire," about an actress who finds herself in serious trouble.

Credit: 518 Media

Laura Dern with director David Lynch.

Credit: 518 Media

Director David Lynch kisses actress Laura Dern as actor Justin Theroux looks on while presenting their latest movie, "Inland Empire," at the 63rd Venice Film Festival in 2006. Lynch received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the fest.

Credit: AP Photo

Laura Dern portrays Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in "Recount," a behind-the-scenes account of the 2000 presidential election scandal. The docudrama was nominated for five primetime Emmys, including Dern for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. It was her fourth Emmy nomination.

Credit: AP Photo

Dern, with then-husband, singer Ben Harper, and their 7-year-old son Charles, walks near the Tour de France village in 2004.

Credit: AP Photo

Laura Dern kisses then-husband Ben Harper as he poses with his awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "11th Commandment" and for "There Will Be A Light" with The Blind Boys Of Alabama, at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005.

The couple was married in 2005 and had two children together before divorcing.

Credit: AP Photo

Presenter Laura Dern walks offstage with Melissa Etheridge after Etheridge was given the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 17th annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards in 2006.

Credit: AP Photo

Actress Laura Dern calls for citizens and government to save a 14-acre urban farm threatened with demolition on the south side of Los Angeles in 2006.

Actress Laura Dern, who portrays Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in the movie "Recount," rides a horse during the filming of a scene in 2007.

Credit: AP Photo

From left: Actor Kevin Spacey, screenwriter Danny Strong, and actors Laura Dern and Denis Leary arrive at the New York premiere of their film "Recount," May, 13, 2008.

Credit: AP Photo

Laura Dern played an old classmate of a salesman (Will Ferrell) undergoing a crisis after being fired in "Everything Must Go" (2010).

Credit: Lionsgate

Laura Dern plays the sometimes funny, sometimes hysterical Amy Jellicoe, a woman on a mission to make the world right, in the HBO dramedy, "Enlightened."

"She's someone who feels everything in an enormous way - and doesn't have a real barometer of what to share or not to share," Dern explained.

Credit: HBO

The actress said she gravitates toward characters and writer-directors "who are interested in the broken funny in life. . . . That's the kind of funny I like."

Credit: HBO

Actress Laura Dern arrives at the premiere of HBO's "Enlightened" at the Paramount Theater on October 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Actors Laura Dern and Jack Black pose at the after-party for the premiere of HBO's "Enlightenment" at Paramount Studios on October 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Actress Laura Dern poses in the press room with the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) Award for "Enlightened," at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California.

Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Actress Laura Dern arrives on the red carpet on February 25, 2012 for the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California.